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NASCAR veterans Kenny Schrader and Kenny Wallace will compete Tuesday night at the Longdale Speedway, which is on Highway 58 in the northwest corner of Blaine County, between Fairview and Canton. Longdale Speedway runs International Motor Car Association series, and Wallace and Schrader are scheduled to compete against local drivers.
And how I know all this is a good story. At least to me.
You...

Northwest Oklahoma travelblog: How I made it to Longdale

Berry Tramel | Jul 27, 2015

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NASCAR veterans Kenny Schrader and Kenny Wallace will compete Tuesday night at the Longdale Speedway, which is on Highway 58 in the northwest corner of Blaine County, between Fairview and Canton. Longdale Speedway runs International Motor Car Association series, and Wallace and Schrader are scheduled to compete against local drivers.
And how I know all this is a good story. At least to me.
You can learn a lot by getting in your car and getting out of town. A week ago Friday, I took a road trip to a section of Oklahoma I rarely see but always enjoy. The grandfather of our man Jacob Unruh died, and his funeral was in Cherokee, which is about 20 miles east of Alva. We call Jacob “Virgil” for reasons that are a mystery to me, but we think the world of Virgil and wanted to make sure he knew we were thinking of him. So three of us were able to break away to make the 21/2-hour drive to the service. High school editor Darla Smith, sports web editor Erik Horne and myself. We also gave a ride to Virgil’s wife, who is in nursing school, had some business in OKC that morning and needed a ride to meet her husband.
So we launched off from Northwest Expressway and away we went. Out to Okarche and onto Highway 81 north through Kingfisher, Dover, Hennessey, Waukomis and Enid. Darla’s a life-long Yukon gal, so she’s been all over the state, but Erik the Red is from Louisiana and hadn’t been past Okarche. So we gave him an educated tour of that region and eventually gave all of us an educated tour of that region.
I always build up Okarche and Kingfisher as my favorite small towns in Oklahoma. Okarche as my favorite tiny town — 2,000 or less population — and Kingfisher as my favorite small town. I just love their feel and their pride. Both are well-kept. Cool, old houses. Not a bunch of shabby homes and buildings falling down. Not every place is spit-shine, but no place, home or business, is a dump. At least from what you can see. A few months ago, I went through Davis, down in southern Oklahoma, and was reminded that Davis can give Kingfisher a run for best small town above 2,000 population, but still, Kingfisher is a cool place. And Erik was duly impressed. We built it up, and Kingfisher delivered.
Dover has a better setting, with more trees lining the little town, but it’s run down. Hennessey is a solid town but isn’t quite as well maintained. Not much to Waukomis to maintain.
Driving through Enid was fun. For such a big place — population in the 50,000 range — I rarely make it up there. We drove past the Plainsmen’s football field, where Lydell Carr and PJ Mills and Austin Box and Clint Chelf starred, and I should have driven Erik the Red over to the downtown area where Mark Price Arena sits. Enid has to have one of the most unique high school basketball coliseums in America. A civic auditorium, named after an NBA star. Enid’s a lot like Ponca City and Bartlesville, other northern Oklahoma towns that once were the headquarters of major oil companies. Phillips in Bartlesville, Conoco in Ponca, Champlin in Enid. All are big versions of Kingfisher. Well-kept. Lots of pride. Lots of history. Good places to live, if you don’t need a metropolitan city. Champlin was closed in 1984, and Enid has found its footing without a major anchor.
The guys in the car made fun of me, because I drew a rough map of our trip. I hate following GPS, or even phone maps, because they don’t give you a big picture. I couldn’t find an old-fashioned road map, so I drew one before we left. Darla made fun of it, took a picture of it and put it on FaceBook. Dirty Rotten Scoundrel.
Anyway, north of Enid, I had planned to turn west on Highway 45 and go through Carrier, where my pal Richard Mize recently pastored a Congregational Church, and Goltry and Helena, towns which formed a consolidated school. But I missed that turn, so we went on north and then west on U.S. 64. That took us through Jet and Nash, two more towns that long ago consolidated schools. Not much to Jet or Nash, but I remember from the ‘70s, looking at the scores of Jet-Nash and Helena-Goltry. Now, those two schools and four towns have consolidated into one school. The elementary school is in Jet, the high school is in Helena. It’s 20 miles from Nash to Helena, so that’s a fair drive. But it’s the truth of western Oklahoma. Diminishing population, schools trying to survive.
My only knock on Timberlake is the name. Where’s the timber? There’s no timber in northwestern Oklahoma. The lake, I sort of get, since the Great Salt Plains Lake sits just north of Jet. But Timberlake is a good name for a school in Little Dixie or Green Country. How about Salt Plains High School? Or Big Sky High School?
Oh well. Driving along U.S. 64, you see Great Salt Plains Lake off to the north. At least you think it’s the lake. It might be the shimmering selenite crystals that form part of the shoreline. The saline content is perhaps a quarter that of ocean water, and the crystals are unique to the area. Visitors dig for the crystals, and Oklahoma maintains a state park as part of the lake. It’s a little like Little Sahara, which is one county over from Alfalfa, in Woods County, between Woodward and Alva, and has magnificent sand dunes that attract motorcycle riders. Barren territory that suddenly draws people. Sand dunes, salt lakes. Oklahoma is an interesting place.
Anyway, we drove on into Cherokee and found complete charm. Great small town. Some cool old houses. A good-sized grocery store. Some small businesses. A couple of neat churches. Alfalfa County courthouse. And way more trees than you’d expect in northwest Oklahoma.
I seemed to remember that Cherokee had a downtown movie theater that famously burned some years ago. We found a storefront that seemed like it could have been the theater, but I couldn’t be sure. I forgot to ask anyone, and I couldn’t find anything on the Internet, so maybe I’m mixed up.
Anyway, Cherokee was a great little town. The service at the First Baptist Church was nice. Virgil spoke about his grandfather and did a great job. A men’s quartet sang, and the four men produced beautiful harmony on both “How Great Thou Art” and “It Is Well With My Soul.” First off, you can’t miss with good material. Two of the top five songs of all-time, and I might be short-changing them. Add in quality voices, then touch it off with the endorsement of Jehovah himself, and it was riveting. I’m not kidding around. It started raining a little as we arrived in Cherokee, and it was raining pretty good when we got out of the car. During the service, it started storming. And I swear, when the quartet sang the first verse of “How Great Thou Art,” at the very point when they belted out “I hear the roaring thunder,” the skies boomed with thunder that shook everyone in the sanctuary, both physically and spiritually. It was the darndest thing.
We paid our respects to Virgil, then headed out. I was determined to go home a different way, see more stuff, and it didn’t take us long.
I went south out of Cherokee and hooked up with Highway 8. I wanted to go through Fairview, a decent-sized town that I had never visited. We went through Cleo Springs, not much there, but north of Fairview, we passed another Oklahoma jewel — Gloss Mountain. We saw in the distance, off to the west, some beautiful mesas. Didn’t know what they were but eventually found out. The Gloss Mountains, sometimes called the Glass Mountains, according to travelok.com, have a high selenite content that mimics a shiny glass exterior. There’s a state park at Gloss Mountain, with hiking trails, and spectacular scenery. Let me promise you. The landscape in northwestern Oklahoma is underrated.
Now you know why they call it Fairview. I had never been to the Major County seat, which has a population of about 2,500. But Fairview had a good football program in the 1980s, and I sort of always followed the Yellowjackets. Plus, I had an extra reason for going. A few years ago, at Mike Gundy’s kickoff golf tournament in Stillwater, I ran into a guy I once knew. Todd Smith played football at Norman High, graduating in 1983, and went to OU on a football scholarship. I covered that 1982 Norman team, and I lost track of Todd after that. But there he was at Karsten Creek that day. Turns out he married a Fairview girl and was running his father-in-law’s car dealership in Fairview. The father-in-law was an OSU booster, so here was an ex-Sooner, at the Gundy Invitational. I enjoyed seeing Todd and told him I’d stop in if I ever was in Fairview.
And so I was in Fairview. Todd runs Jensen’s Buick-GMC dealership. It’s a great old art deco building, with lots of vintage signs. Alas, Todd was not in the office, so I left him a note and we were on our way.
Fairview seemed like a nice place. Not quite up to Kingfisher’s standards, I’d say, but livable. They’ve got a Sonic, a Pizza Hut and a Taco Mayo. Fairview probably is like much of western Oklahoma, in that it is reeling a little from the oil bust after the great oil boom that created a housing shortage. In Cherokee, we saw a sign for dorm-style lodging that could house 60 workers. But until the price of oil bounces back, that demand has weakened.
Fairview actually has three car dealerships. Jensen’s Buick-GMC, Eischen’s Chevrolet (don’t know the relationship to the Okarche landmark) and Vinton Baker Ford. Any place with three new car dealers has something going for it.
Leaving Fairview, I was going to go east on Highway 58, then jog back south to Okeene, because going south out of Fairview veered west and was out of the way. But before we turned around, I saw a mileage sign.
Longdale 13.
And my heart leaped. I swear. I try not to be too sentimental. But I got all fired up. Longdale is where my dad coached high school basketball in the 1950s. I had heard him talk about Longdale all my life, but I had never been there. I knew it was close to Canton, and I once thought about trying to go through Longdale on the way home from Colorado, but it was out of the way, and everybody was tired.
So I told Darla and Erik the Red. We’re going to Longdale.
Longdale High School is long since closed. I think in the ‘70s. The elementary school closed in 1991. My impression of Longdale was as a ghost town. That nobody and nothing would be there anymore. But I was wrong. Longdale still lives. It’s got a population just under 300, with a couple of gas station/convenience stores and quite a few houses. And the gymnasium still stands.
The Longdale gym looks like an old WPA project — heck, it is an old WPA project, we found an inscription — but on the north end is painted a huge mural detailing the history of Longdale. The gym is locked up, but it was cool to walk around the place where my dad coached 60 years ago. We snapped a few pictures, then we were on our way.
Seems like in the ‘70s, when I was a kid, some guys from Longdale that had played for my dad dropped by the house, the morning of an OU football game. My dad died in 2007; how I wish I had made the trip to Longdale with him.
Anyway, back to NASCAR. As we left Longdale, there suddenly appeared a race track. Glittering. New. I’ve passed a bunch of Oklahoma dirt tracks, and none of them stood out like this. We were stunned. We had no idea what it could be or why it would be.
But Darla looked it up on that FaceBook machine of hers, and there came the news. Longdale Speedway. Home of regular racing. Hosting Kenny Schrader and Kenny Wallace on July 28. Turns out, Longdale Speedway is thriving with local racers from all over zipping into town to race on most Saturday nights.
Our adventure was mostly over. We drove down to Canton, hit Highway 51 and took it east through Okeene, which I had been to recently. I showed Darla and Erik the Red the great spires atop the St. Anthony Catholic Church. You can’t believe it. Looks like something you’d see in Italy. Then we drove south to Watonga, east back to Kingfisher and finally we were backtracking. We stopped in Okarche at the Popcorn Station, a popcorn store that sits on the north side of the road that runs through Okarche and separates Kingfisher and Canadian counties. Eischen’s Bar, home of the world’s greatest fried chicken, actually is in Canadian County.
Then it was back down Highway 3, which becomes Northwest Expressway and the city that seems far removed in more than just miles from Cherokee and the Great Salt Plains Lake and art deco Buick dealership and the old gymnasium where my dad coached 60 years ago.
Quite an adventure for a summer’s day.

Oklahoma’s high school football playoffs began in 1944, and Ada got in the championship business in 1951, winning the Class A title.
The Cougars liked the feeling. In 15 years, Ada won nine state championships. 1951, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1962, 1964 and 1965.
And that was in the days of limited classes — three through 1952, four from 1953-63 and five starting in 1964. Plus only...

Tramel: Ada to honor the football team that won only a mythical title

Berry Tramel | Jul 13, 2015

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Oklahoma’s high school football playoffs began in 1944, and Ada got in the championship business in 1951, winning the Class A title.
The Cougars liked the feeling. In 15 years, Ada won nine state championships. 1951, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1962, 1964 and 1965.
And that was in the days of limited classes — three through 1952, four from 1953-63 and five starting in 1964. Plus only conference champions made the playoffs. And Ada was in the big-school class for those first two titles, competing against Norman, Lawton and the schools in Tulsa and Oklahoma City.
But this is not about the titles that Ada won. This is about the title Ada could have won.
On Monday in Ada, the annual Cougar golf scramble will be held, and the team of honor will be the undefeated 1954 squad. Benton O’Neal, who played at OU and is the brother of former Sooner quarterback Jay O’Neal, sent me the following email:
“There have been a lot of stories about the '54 team, but let me start from way back before that controversial year. From in the ‘40s or before, the Sooner Star Conference consisted of usually Ada, Ardmore, McAlester, Henryetta, Seminole, Wewoka, Holdenville and Durant. There were only three classes: A, B & C. Ada and the Sooner Star was in the largest class, A. The state playoffs were determined by the conference champion only. In 1950, my brother Pat was a senior and the Ada High QB. Ada won the conference and lost to Muskogee in the playoffs. The next year, 1951, my brother Jay was the QB and they won the state championship beating Ardmore, Sand Springs, then Ponca City in the finals. Next in 1952 Ada again won state knocking off Poteau, Ponca City again, then Midwest City in the final game.
“Remember these are Oklahoma's largest schools that choose to be in the playoffs. For some reason not all did. In 1953 Seminole defeated us to win the Sooner Star Conference then went on to beat Muskogee in the state finals for the championship. They were a great team with many returning for the next year.
“After five weeks in 1954, both Seminole and Ada were undefeated and ranked No. 1 and No. 2 respectively and was rated the No. 1 game in the state by The Oklahoman. We beat the lineback s**** out of them 26-0. The Ardmore team was very good and only lost one game that year to us. It was our closest game, 20-7. The rest of the games we rolled big time averaging 46-plus per game. We were astounded when Coach (Elvan) George told us there would be no playoffs that year. The Oklahoman declared we were the mythical state champions, but the Tulsa paper said Muskogee was the champion even though they had a tie on their record.
“In 1994, the OSSAA gave us a plaque designating us as undisputed mythical state champions, but it is still not officially counted of record. We were a great team and many thanks for all of the recognition you give us.
“I went to (then Ada) coach Larry McBroom about trying to count the '54 year as a state champion and he said we were changing history. I said, ‘THIS IS HISTORY,’ but to no avail.”
O’Neal’s recollections are largely true. In 1954, the Oklahoma High School Athletic Association, the forerunner of the OSSAA, voted to abolish the football playoffs. The OSSAA website reports that in 1954, “No championships due to membership vote of ‘too much football.’ Had regular season games only, but were reinstated the next year.”
The Oklahoman reported that some of the reasons given were 1) too much emphasis on winning; 2) increased pressure on coaches; 3) a longer season. In 2011, our man Jason Kersey wrote an interesting account of that strange season, which you can read here.

Oklahoma City homebuilder Jack Evans, who is managing partner of TimberCraft Homes, recently talked with The Oklahoman about the effect growing up with deaf parents had on his life and career.

Executive Q&A: Self-described 'hooligan' in high school finds his strong suit is in building houses

By Paula Burkes Business Writer pburkes@oklahoman.com | Jun 21, 2015

During their childhood, when televisions had on/off knobs, Oklahoma City homebuilder Jack Evans and his identical twin, Jay, didn’t know — until their friends told them — that the same TV knob also controlled sound.
Their deaf parents never turned up the knob, and communicated with their sons through sign language, which was the twins' first language. They needed speech therapy to perfect their English.
From a model home in the Pleasant Grove addition near Memorial and Council, Evans, who is managing partner of TimberCraft Homes, recently talked with The Oklahoman about the effect his silent household had on his life and career.
Evans, 47, not only had an unconventional upbringing, but also was a nontraditional college student and worked several different jobs before finding his niche in homebuilding 10 years ago. His twin since has followed him into the industry.
TimberCraft had annual revenues last year of $16.5 million and employs 16, including an interior designer and two planners who draw the firm’s unique blueprints, Evans said.
With paintable exterior sidings, open floor plans, multiple windows and cathedral ceilings, his homes, even those smaller than 2,000 square feet, “give the illusion of volume and a cleaner feel,” said Evans, who’s built in northwest Oklahoma City, Surrey Hills, a little in Mustang and around to Edmond. He’s also built on 42 tornado-ravaged lots in Moore.
The following is an edited transcript of the sit-down with Evans:
Q: Who’s older, you or your brother, and how identical are you?
A: I’m seven minutes older than Jay. We were born, two months premature, in Ponca City, where our parents were passing through. We lived our first two years in Afton, my mom’s hometown, so that my grandparents could help care for us. Then, we moved to Enid. My mom didn’t identify us in most of the pictures from our childhood, because she couldn’t even tell us apart. Today, we don’t look so much alike. But when people see us separately, they still struggle with who’s who.
Q: What did your parents do?
A: My dad, who was born deaf, and mom, who lost her hearing at age 4 or 5 after getting tuberculosis, met at the Oklahoma School for the Deaf in Sulphur. My mom, at 20, was about to graduate and dad, at 32, had returned for a football game. He had trained as a pressman at the school, but worked 29 years as a butcher for the Enid State School for the intellectually disabled. He died of kidney cancer at age 60, shortly before he’d planned to retire. The most he ever earned was $17,000, but he left a good pension for my mother, who’s retired and lives outside Lawton. My mom worked as a housekeeper for the school, until she was hurt in a car accident. She was riding a Vespa and turning back into the school after a lunch break, when she was hit. Afterward, she couldn’t work and, until she was approved for disability benefits, we for a few years were on food stamps. It was not great. Jay and I can remember standing in line to get cheese and pinto beans. We were old enough, at 11 or 12, to know our friends were not doing that. We have a sister, a few years younger, who has her own business as an interpreter for the deaf in Fort Worth.
Q: In which extracurricular activities were you involved in school?
A: Jay and I just hung out, often with two other friends. We were hooligans and not the best kids. Our parents taught us a good work ethic and the value of keeping our credit clean; we threw morning and afternoon papers from the time we were 11 or 12 and saved and bought our own motorcycles and cars. But they were satisfied with only passing grades. Meanwhile, largely unsupervised and with an accomplice in each other, we vandalized and shoplifted. Some of our teachers are probably surprised we’re not in jail.
Q: And college?
A: I’d graduated high school four or five years before I started college, and that was mainly because I wasn’t getting the kind of job I wanted. Having worked as a supervising night stockman for United Foods in Enid and a day stockman for a grocery in Fort Worth, I started at Northern Oklahoma College in Enid toward earning my associate’s in business administration and becoming a food broker. But after I graduated, I decided to continue, commuting to UCO in Edmond. I figured I could always go back and be a food broker, but after earning my bachelor’s in finance, I joined MidFirst Bank and worked five years as a servicing and acquisition analyst in the administration of home mortgages.
Q: What made you decide to work for yourself?
A: Though I enjoyed working for MidFirst, and got great training in understanding finance and contracts, I didn’t like being chained to the office from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Theresa already had started her own business doing title work for banks on repossessed cars, and I saw how she could come and go as she wanted. My first venture was buying a commercial industrial paint business that was a wholesale supplier to area manufacturers. It was successful, but I hated it. It was a culture shock, coming from a professional bank environment. I found my niche in the housing market, blending white- and blue-collar work by working with banks on financing, but overseeing construction outside of the office. Before I was a builder, I fixed up and flipped homes I bought in sheriff sales, doing most of the work myself. But after shows on flipping houses starting airing in 2005 on HDTV, there no longer was any money in it, and I transitioned to homebuilding. Within six months after the house flipping shows started, the number of people showing up at foreclosure sales ballooned from 50 to 400, including stay-at-home moms pushing baby strollers who thought they could make a little money on the side.
Q: Did you and Theresa ever plan children?
A: I joke that Jay had my share. He has five kids, ages 8 to 25. And on Theresa’s side, we have 29-year-old fraternal twin nieces, who lived with us for a time when they were attending OU. Theresa had a hysterectomy before we married, so we knew we wouldn’t have biological children. We’d considered adopting, but when the time came, after I’d completed my degree and we’d started our separate businesses, it just wasn’t part of our life.
Q: Is it hard competing against your twin brother, Jay Evans of Two Structure Homes, who also builds houses in the same additions as you?
A: I don’t see it as business he gets, I lose. Our products are as different as a Subaru and Ford Truck; my homes are more modern and his, more traditional. In general, my buyers are younger, ages 28 to 32, but they’re sophisticated buyers. Many are buying their first homes, only these aren’t cracker box stereotypical starter homes or tract homes, but distinctive homes that reflect them. As twins, Jay and I have competed our whole lives, and the competition has — and still does — make both of us better.

Even though sports were a big part of his life growing up in small-town Oklahoma — he went on to play college baseball — coaching never appealed to him. He didn’t want to be the guy in the polyester shorts, the striped tube socks and the Spot-Bilt shoes. He didn’t want to be the stereotype.

Phil McSpadden, college softball's most successful coach, thought his future was in something else

By Jenni Carlson | May 4, 2015

Phil McSpadden never dreamed he’d hold a national coaching record.
Then again, he never dreamed he’d coach.
Even though sports were a big part of his life growing up in small-town Oklahoma — he went on to play college baseball — coaching never appealed to him. He didn’t want to be the guy in the polyester shorts, the striped tube socks and the Spot-Bilt shoes. He didn’t want to be the stereotype.
Even after McSpadden had spent a couple decades coaching, first at high schools around Oklahoma, then at Oklahoma City University, he still went to the office in business casual, changed into his gear for practice, and changed back to the khakis and button down for the drive home.
“Then, it finally hit me,” he said, “‘I guess this is what I’m doing for the rest of my life.’”
Earlier this spring, McSpadden became the all-time winningest coach in the history of college softball. No one has won more. Not any of the legends like Fresno State’s Margie Wright or Arizona’s Mike Candrea. Not any of the coaches who will bring their teams to Oklahoma City later this month for the Women’s College World Series.
And it was obvious by the number of players who returned to OCU from far and wide the night McSpadden broke the record — now at 1,475 games and counting — that he isn’t the goofy stereotype.
Not even close.
***
Phil McSpadden’s dad was a businessman. Same for his older brother. He figured his life’s work would be in the business world, too.
After graduating from Oral Roberts with a business management degree, he went to work for the funeral home back home in Vinita. The owner was the wealthiest man in the northeastern Oklahoma town, so McSpadden figured he should take the job.
“And that wasn’t my cup of tea,” he said.
McSpadden realized that even though he’d played college ball, he hadn’t quite had his fill. He decided to give baseball coaching a try.
He started out at small high schools where he was an assistant football coach in the fall and the baseball coach in the spring. But as he had success and looked to move up to higher classifications, he found the schools wanted their baseball coach to coach softball in the fall.
McSpadden turned down the first baseball-softball offer that came his way. He’d never even seen a fast-pitch softball game, after all. But after some more thought, he took the job at Dewey.
He asked one of his mentors for some advice on coaching softball and more specifically girls.
“You coach ’em like guys,” McSpadden was told. “You just don’t pat ’em on the butt.”
***
Phil McSpadden might not have known anything about softball when he started, but it sure didn’t show.
Dewey not only went to state but also won three state titles under McSpadden. Those were the school’s first championships in any sport.
More success followed at Ponca City, but still, McSpadden was stunned when OCU came calling. He liked the challenge of moving up to higher classifications. But he’d never considered the college level.
When OCU offered the job, he turned it down.
“I still thought of myself as a baseball coach,” he said. “Softball was just what I did in the fall.”
A week later, OCU called back with a bit more money. McSpadden wasn’t concerned about the size of the paycheck, but the fact that OCU still wanted him made him wonder.
“Maybe God’s trying to tell me something,” he said.
He took the job in 1988, and in his seventh season, OCU won the national title. Then, it did it again the next season. And the next. And the next.
McSpadden won with a style that didn’t always sit well in the softball world. At that time, most college games were low-scoring affairs. If the teams combined for four or five runs, that was an offensive explosion.
“Softball was, you get a runner on first, you bunt her over,” McSpadden said. “And you’d see this all the time with one out, they’d bunt her to third. I’m going, ‘What? I can’t squeeze now. A sac fly is not going to work.’”
Small ball ruled the day, and McSpadden wasn’t against it. But he wasn’t against swinging away either.
His baseball roots carried over to softball — and he wasn’t always well received because of it. When he’d be out recruiting, he’d regularly hear people say that players shouldn’t commit to him.
“He teaches that baseball swing,” detractors would say. “He’s just a baseball coach. He’s not a softball purist.”
His response?
“Well, thank you.”
Even though the free-swinging, high-powered style is seen across the country now, it overwhelmed most of OCU’s NAIA opponents back in the ’90s. But despite McSpadden’s bunch winning four consecutive titles, he still wasn’t sure of his place in the world. Did he really want to coach forever? Was this really his life’s work?
“By man’s standard, I’m successful,” he thought, “but am I doing anything significant?”
He was thinking long and hard about getting out of coaching.
Then one day, the dad of one of McSpadden’s former players called. They hadn’t spoken in quite some time, but the dad wanted to say thank you.
“I just want to tell you,” he told the coach, “my daughter wouldn’t be a Christian if not for you.”
McSpadden stopped thinking about leaving coaching.
***
Phil McSpadden will see folks panhandling occasionally when he’s on his way to work near OCU’s urban campus near NW 23 and Penn.
Chances are good, he will give them money.
“Because I want to believe they’re telling me the truth,” he said. “The glass is half full off the field.”
He paused and steeled his gaze.
“On the field, the glass is half empty, and it always has been.”
McSpadden tells players up front about his demeanor. He will get angry. He will yell. Even though he promises he’ll never cuss at a player, he will cuss. The Lord’s name won’t be taken in vain or anything like that.
“But I’m gonna hold you accountable,” he tells players.
He expects his players to be able to do what he recruits them to do. So, he doesn’t give a ton of compliments; upperclassmen have been known to tell freshmen to savor it when they get a compliment. McSpadden is trying to be more positive and has even asked one of his assistants to tell him if a certain player needs a squeeze on the shoulder or a word of encouragement.
He tells his gals that if he’s yelling at them about making a play, it’s because he knows they can make the play.
“If I criticize, that’s really a compliment,” he tells players. “I know you’re better than that.”
His whole coaching philosophy is summed up in eight words painted on the wall above his desk.
DON’T WHINE, DON’T COMPLAIN, AND DON’T MAKE EXCUSES.
That mantra has not only won lots of ballgames but also resonated with players.
On the night in early April that McSpadden broke the national record, nearly two dozen former players attended the game. One gal from his very first OCU team even came all the way from Houston.
“I would’ve never thought … ” McSpadden said, his eyes welling with tears.
Having those alums back and being able to hug their necks was the best thing about breaking the record.
Oh, sure, McSpadden is competitive. He loves the chess match of games. He enjoys the challenge of building teams and improving players. That’s good stuff.
But building relationships? Having an influence? Making a mark?
That’s the best stuff.
Phil McSpadden still marvels when he thinks about where coaching has taken him. He has been able to do something he loves for more than three decades. He never dreads going to work. He cashes a paycheck for something he really likes doing.
“This has been much more enjoyable,” he said, “than I ever thought it would be.”
It has been a dream.
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at (405) 475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok or view her personality page at newsok.com/jennicarlson.

Baseball
Kyle Tyler, Westmoore
Tyler, an Oklahoma signee, was masterful on the mound in two starts over the past week, striking out a total of 28 batters. He allowed just one run as Westmoore ran its winning streak to eight games.
Girls soccer
Haley Woodard, Norman North
The Oklahoma State signee delivered two second-half goals Tuesday against Mustang to help Norman North clinch the district...

High School Athletes of the Week

BY SCOTT WRIGHT AND JACOB UNRUH | Apr 29, 2015

Baseball
Kyle Tyler, Westmoore
Tyler, an Oklahoma signee, was masterful on the mound in two starts over the past week, striking out a total of 28 batters. He allowed just one run as Westmoore ran its winning streak to eight games.
Girls soccer
Haley Woodard, Norman North
The Oklahoma State signee delivered two second-half goals Tuesday against Mustang to help Norman North clinch the district title and a fifth straight win.
Boys golf
Lance Gregory and Bryce Fanning, Southmoore
The pair of SaberCats tied for first at the Ardmore Invitational, each shooting 73 to lead Southmoore to the team victory.
Girls golf
Elizabeth Freeman, Casady
The Oklahoma Christian signee fired back-to-back rounds of 68-73 to win the Southwest Preparatory Conference Tournament by 10 strokes on Tuesday, her fifth win of the year. She led Casady to its third consecutive SPC Tournament team title.
Boys track
Kaden Jackson, Kingfisher
The senior, who has signed to play football at Wyoming, swept the throwing events at the 89er Conference meet on Saturday. He won the shot put with a throw of 54 feet, 9 inches and the discus at 146-2.
Girls track
Morganne Mukes, Edmond Memorial
The sophomore sprinter won the 100 and 200 meters at the Edmond North meet last Friday, taking the 100 in 12.08 and the 200 in 25.48.
Boys tennis
Sam Atkinson and Brett Bormann, Edmond North
The sophomore No. 1 doubles pairing defeated a stout field at the Tulsa Union tournament Tuesday.
Girls tennis
Lauren Harvey, Heritage Hall
The freshman continues to establish herself as a No. 2 singles favorite in Class 5A. She won the Ponca City Tournament Saturday and is 14-4 on the year.
Slowpitch softball
Rachel Stark, Bethel
Stark had a big district tournament for Bethel, driving in six of the Wildcats’ 42 runs over three games against Seminole and McLoud. She hit an inside-the-park homer and a three-run double in two games against McLoud.

Doc Hearon died on Feb. 11, and it’s confession time. Not that I didn’t know that Doc Hearon died. That I didn’t know that Doc Hearon lived. I’m usually up to date on the prominent players of OU’s Bud Wilkinson era, but this one slipped past the goaltender. I’ve had two Hearon inquiries in recent […]

Oklahoma football: Stories about Doc Hearon

Berry Tramel | Feb 26, 2015

Doc Hearon died on Feb. 11, and it's confession time. Not that I didn't know that Doc Hearon died. That I didn't know that Doc Hearon lived.
I'm usually up to date on the prominent players of OU's Bud Wilkinson era, but this one slipped past the goaltender.
I've had two Hearon inquiries in recent days. An old friend of my family, a man from Arkansas I actually never have met, called to ask if I had any good information on Hearon. The family friend was involved in the memorial service.
I went home and dug out some information, thanks to Harold Keith's 47 Straight, and sent it back.
Then loyal reader Ed Frost wrote me: "Did I miss a story about Doc Hearon? I saw a couple of sentences about him in today’s Tributes section, but I’d think he was worth more than that. Another stellar Wilkinson era
guy and one who lettered three years in wrestling for Port (Robertson). Harold Keith’s book on Bud’s teams has a good story or two about him. One about being on the alternate team and one about Gene Nicks of OSU. Doc told me that when Port came and saw Doc’s steel company, he allowed he might have to quit calling Doc 'peahead.' RIP, Doc."
By then, I had sent the family friend the info on Hearon. I don't know why I didn't blog it earlier. But Ed's email prompted me to action. And prompted me to further investigate.
The Muskogee Phoenix obituary on Hearon reveals he was born June 28, 1931, in Sugden, in southwestern Oklahoma. Jackson County. Hearon was married to Marilyn Virginia Scott for 55 years. She died in 2005. The Hearons owned and operated a successful steel business. They met in high school, at Putnam City. Hearon was a guard for Wilkinson and a heavyweight for Robertson. He served in the U.S. Army.
Here are the stories I found on Hearon. They are worth sharing. From Harold Keith:
"High-school athletes who came to Oklahoma to play football responded to all sorts of recruiting stimuli. One of the most unusual cases was that of Darlon 'Doc' Hearon, Putnam City tackle and light-heavyweight wrestler. Hearon was a blond, combative 200-pounder who was always having to give weight to some superopponent and whose disposition, because of it, tended toward bellicosity. Hearon was recruited by for OU by Casey Mills, an Oklahoma City police detective, who, doubling as a football referee, had just ejected Hearon from a high school game for fighting.
"'In spite of that fight, he took me down to OU twice,' Hearon laughs today. 'Charley Sarratt, the OU halfback of 1947, helped. But there was another reason -- a big one -- that made me decide not to go to OU. He was Gene Nicks.'
"Nicks, a 245-pound high-school wrestler from Ponca City, would later win two national collegiate heavyweight championships. He and Hearon had clashed six times on the mat in high school. Nicks won all six. When Hearon heard that Nicks had signed a wrestling scholarship with OU, he decided to go someplace else. He was tired of being torso-twisted by somebody 50 pounds heavier. So Hearon went to Oklahoma A&M.
"'One day at Stillwater I walked into a cafeteria and bumped into Gene Nicks,' says Hearon. 'What are you doin' here?' I asked. 'I've changed my mind,' said Nicks. 'I've decided to come to Oklahoma A&M.' 'That night I went back to Norman,' Hearon concludes the incident.
"At Norman, Hearon's freshman football coach was Port Robertson, also Oklahoma's head wrestling mentor. 'My first run-in with Port was over my language in football practice,' Hearon laughs today. 'Port told me, "You know more four-letter cusswords than any freshman I ever saw. Now, instead of saying those words you're so fond of, why not use a little class like me -- and say PeaHead or Cotton-Picker?" So I cleaned up my language. I never swore again around Port.'"
"The Sooners' new (1951) line was as green as custodian Jim Houston's lush Owen Field turf. With so many new men contending for status, some savage battles occurred in spring practice. One of the best involved Jim Weatherall and Doc Hearon, the sophomore-to-be who had been recruited by police detective Casey Mills.
"'One day in spring practice, I made up my mind to make the OU team,' Hearon recalls. 'I was serious about it. I had a wife and a little girl, and I was ambitious to make something of myself. My opponent that day in scrimmage was Weatherall (21, 6-4, 230, senior, all-American). I thought I was having a real good day on him.
"'Suddenly big Jim whip-blocked me and I found myself sitting on the ground holding my aching shins. "After practice is over I'm going to whip your big tail," I told him. He just grinned.
"'Later, I was taking off my gear in the dressing room. Weatherall came through the door, darkening everything. He walked up to me. He grabbed me by the back of the head and pulled my face up tight against his stomach. "Me an' you ain't never gonna fight," he said. We hugged each other. We both cried a little. I was sure relieved.'
"One of the best new fighters was Dick Bowman, guard from Ponca City. 'Everybody hated to block against his bony elbows,' remembers Hearon. 'One day we were running half-speed drills rushing the passer. I was on defense, he on offense. It was the only time I was ever KO'd on the field. He hit me on the chin with an elbow. I came to on the ground. I looked up. Bowman and Gomer Jones bent over me, looking very concerned. I looked at Bowman, "Which SOB hit me?" I asked. Bowman said, "It was me but I've already told Gomer I'm sorry." He never did tell me he was sorry,' laughs Hearon. 'Not to this day, he hasn't.'"
"Two surprises greeted the Oklahomans when they arrived at Columbia on game day (1951). The field was dry and the footing fast. After waiting until the snow started melting, Missouri's freshman football players had rolled off every flake into the largest snowballs the Sooners had ever seen. The snow was piled nearly waist-deep all around the field.
"All through the game Missouri fans showered snowballs on the Sooner bench. 'We all got hit,' recalls George Cornelius. Tiring of the punishment, J.D. Roberts and Doc Hearon each fired one back into the crowd, whereupon Dee Andros, Sooner assistant line coach, reproved them. Then a snowball struck Andros.
"'The back of Dee's head was flat as a board,' recalls Don Hearon, 'and that's where this snowball hit him. And it was thrown hard, Dee picked up a folding chair and started up into the stadium after them, but the other coaches persuaded him to sit down. The restrainer had to be restrained.'"
"Although line coach Gomer Jones ran his practices very seriously, he would tolerate a little clowning upon occasion. The player with whom he especially seemed to enjoy this relationship was Doc Hearon.
"One day in practice Gomer stopped the scrimmage to talk about technique. Doc Hearon became bored. The tackle had his own way of showing his disenchantment upon these occasions. He turned his helmet around on his head, back part in front, and pretended to be paying rapt attention.
"'Knock off that bull, Doc!' Gomer bellowed hoarsely. 'Where'd you get that goofy-looking headgear? You're not even smart enough to know how to wear it.' Hearon grinned and readjusted the helmet.
"Of Gomer, Hearon said, 'You played hard for Gomer because you loved the guy. You wanted to make Gomer look good.'"
"With cocaptain Roger Nelson ready to resume play after a long layoff (in 1953) because of a rib injury, he was moved to right tackle ahead of Hearon who was dropped to the alternate team. This ruffled Hearon who had played the best game of his life against Notre Dame. Taking J.D. Roberts with him, he went to see line coach Gomer Jones.
"'You said I played well against Notre Dame and Pittsburgh, and here I am down to second team,' he charged.
"Gomer put both hands on Hearon's shoulders. 'Now, Doc,' he soothed, 'you know we don't have a second team. We have two first teams.'
"'Gomer,' said Hearon, 'if it's all right with you, I'd like to be on that other first team.' Both Jones and Roberts burst out laughing, but Hearon was dead serious. He was a fine player. So was Nelson, who was 20 pounds heavier."
After the Orange Bowl in Hearon's final season, "'That was the saddest moment of my life,' said tackle Doc Hearon. 'We'd played our last game for our school. We felt sorry for OU the next two years because the kids playing behind us -- the freshmen -- would have to carry the load. I felt sorry for little old Ed Gray. In 1955 and 1956, those "little old kids" won two national championships,' Hearon laughs today."

The District 5A-1 softball all-district team was released last week, with state runner-up Piedmont dominating the awards.
Junior pitcher Kassidy Scott, who is verbally committed to Texas Tech, was named the Player of the Year. Her father, Rick, was named coach of the Year.

High school notebook: Piedmont's Scott named 5A-1 softball Player of the Year

By Scott Wright and Jacob Unruh | Oct 28, 2014

The District 5A-1 softball all-district team was released last week, with state runner-up Piedmont dominating the awards.
Junior pitcher Kassidy Scott, who is verbally committed to Texas Tech, was named the Player of the Year. Her father, Rick, was named coach of the Year.
Here's the team:
FIRST TEAM
Pitcher: Brianna Dow, El Reno
Catcher: Kennedy Turner, Deer Creek
First base: Madi Powell, El Reno
Second base: Michelle Brandon, Piedmont
Third base: Perri Cole, Deer Creek
Shortstop: Allison Young, McGuinness
OF: Kendal Stockstill, Deer Creek; Madison Giggers, Piedmont; Drew Bosler, El Reno
Desginated Player: Sagely McAdoo, Piedmont
Utility: Kirsten Scott, El Reno
Player of the Year: Kassidy Scott, Piedmont
Coach of the Year: Rick Scott, Piedmont
Offensive Player of the Year: Tori Ritz, Deer Creek
Defensive Player of the Year: Sierra Jones, El Reno; Bailey Thompson, Deer Creek
KIEFER DEFENSE CHASING EIGHTH STRAIGHT SHUTOUT
It probably didn’t seem like much when Kellyville kicked a field goal in a 45-3 loss to Kiefer in Week 1 of the football season.
But that was the last time anyone scored against the Class A Trojans. They’ve registered seven consecutive shutouts while averaging 45.1 points per game.
The Trojans have a tougher test ahead if they want to keep their shutout streak alive, though.
They host Morrison (7-1) Friday in a game with significant district title implications on the line. Morrison has averaged over 40 points per game against Class A opponents.
SAPULPA DISMISSES FOOTBALL COACH
Sapulpa football coach Mike Gottsch was relieved of his duties as coach and assistant athletic director Monday, according to the Tulsa World.
The Chieftains have lost six straight games and are 1-7 this season. They visit Claremore on Friday night and end the season by hosting Ponca City on Nov. 7.
“Everybody knew it was going to be difficult after losing 22 seniors (from the 2013 team),” Gottsch told the Tulsa World. “And I realize we’ve been getting beat down, but you certainly wish they would have let you finish out the season. I’ve been coaching for 26 years, and this is the first time I’ve been asked to leave before the season was over.”
Athletic director Onis Pankey said, “We realize this doesn’t happen in high school football, but we felt it was something we needed to do at this time. We felt we needed to make a change and get things moving in the right direction.”
Rick Patterson will head the program as interim coach, with help from the remainder of the current assistant coaching staff.

A farewell to people with Oklahoma ties who enjoyed the game day experience.

Tributes: Longtime athlete and coach Gerald Benn dies at 79

BY SCOTT MUNN | Oct 20, 2014

A farewell to people with Oklahoma ties who enjoyed the game day experience:
Longtime athlete and coach Gerald Benn died at age 79. He was a 6-foot-1, 203-pound offensive lineman at Sulphur High School, picked in to play in the 1953 All-State game and Oil Bowl. Benn served in the Army from 1953-57, where he played for Fort Ord (Calif.) post team. After he was discharged, Benn received a football scholarship to Oklahoma State, where he was a three-year letterman and Academic All-American. Benn spent 20 years in coaching, first at Ponca City High School and then at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah. He also officiated football, basketball, baseball and softball for 30 years. Away from the ballfields, Benn liked taking fishing trips to Canada, Mexico and local lakes. A family obituary said Benn “enjoyed working with the youth of Oklahoma, association with coaches and the camaraderie with other officials.”
Tony Blair Jr., 29, was killed Oct. 4 at Lawton Speedway. The track official was run over by a tractor in the infield before the final race of the season. Blair was the father of three little girls. He was a second generation official at the historic race track.
Bob Schwaninger, 88, of Yukon was a native Nebraskan who followed the Cornhuskers even after moving to the Sooner state in 1960. He once received a thank you letter from former Nebraska football coach Bob Devaney for his hard-core support. Schwaninger was a volunteer for several church and community events, which included the building and maintaining of a playground for handicapped children. He served as president of the Pioneers of America, an AT&T organization that funded the building of a playground for disadvantaged kids. Schwaninger was instrumental in the design of the “beep ball,” a special softball used for the visually impaired. He was also a World War II veteran.
Bob Pugh, 88, was the co-founder of the Tulsa Walking Club. The retired Texaco worker and World War II veteran walked in every Oklahoma county, all 50 states and in nine countries. Pugh walked 30 miles a week into his 70s. A former assistant scoutmaster who led youngsters on more than 4,000 miles of hikes.
Ed Tippens Jr., 89, played basketball for Hammon High School.
Ron Chesser of Oklahoma City was an All-State football player at Yukon High School. He spent 36 years as an football and basketball official at the high school and state college levels. Inducted into the Oklahoma Officials Association Hall of Fame.
Bob Peck, 80, of Edmond was a standout pitcher for Cement High School and courted by the Oklahoma City Indians of the Texas League. He instead went into the family grocery business and later owned 16 Kentucky Fried Chicken stores. Peck collected golf balls, scorecards and baseballs from special events. He enjoyed watching younger members of the family play ball in high school and college.
Sheldon Rose, 37, of Moore played high school basketball at Capitol Hill. Attended Murray State Junior College on a basketball scholarship.
Clyde Yates, 88, of Tulsa loved playing golf. After retiring from the space program, he played almost daily. Scored a hole-in-one in 1998.
Forrest Colston, 78, of Walters marched with the Pride of Oklahoma band on fall Saturdays at Owen Field.
Randy Bodenhamer, 59, was a petroleum landman for more than 30 years. He had a life-long love of sports and played recreational softball, basketball and football. Bodenhamer coached youth sports such as T-ball, softball, volleyball and flag football. He was a behind-the-scenes worker with the Sand Springs High School football and basketball teams. Learned to drive a school bus so he could transport sports teams to games. Served on the Sand Springs Parks and Recreation board of directors.
Colleen Hufford, 54, of Moore was a devoted fan of the Oklahoma City Blazers and Barons hockey teams. Hufford and husband KC sat in the north end of the Cox Center. Pall bearers included former Blazers coach Doug Sauter and star forward Marty Standish.
Jack Martin, 75, of Harrah was a life-long racer, competing in everything from funny cars to drag boats. By trade, Martin worked for Gilt Edge dairy as a route supervisor.
Bob McIntire, 79, of Okmulgee was a native of Claude, Texas, where he lettered in football and basketball.
Bob Brousseau, 87, of Oklahoma City was a former Catholic priest who dabbled in real estate. He was also a personal trainer who gave lectures on aging and health. At age 72, he set an age division world record for the bench press at 407.75 pounds.
Charles Dempsey, 77, of Oklahoma City quarterbacked and captained the 1954 Classen Comets football team. He walked on at OU, and his love of football led to officiating high school games in the 1960s and 1970s. An award-winning salesman by trade.
Marty White, 35, of Bethany installed bowling lanes for the family business, Big 8 Bowling Service. The Putnam City West High graduate was a Navy veteran and musician.
Mike Taylor, 49, of Tulsa played baseball from first grade through college. As a 10-year-old, Taylor played on a team that defeated Puerto Rico for a national championship. Worked at a ski resort in Crested Butte, Colo.

OSSAA executive director Ed Sheakley said the association is aware of the fight but has yet to receive an official’s report from the referee crew.

High school football notebook: OSSAA waiting for report on Tecumesh-Meeker fight

BY JACOB UNRUH, TRENT SHADID AND SCOTT WRIGHT | Sep 20, 2014

The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association has yet to open an investigation into a fight Friday between the Tecumseh and Meeker football teams that cleared the benches and led to seven players being ejected.
OSSAA executive director Ed Sheakley said the association is aware of the fight but has yet to receive an official’s report from the referee crew.
“We’ve heard there was a fight and several players came off the bench and the game was terminated with a couple minutes left in the game,” Sheakley said. “We don’t know if that’s true or not, but we’re just waiting on an official’s report to start an investigation.”
The fight happened on a kickoff during Meeker’s 43-12 victory and caused the game to be halted with 2:39 remaining on the clock. The Shawnee News-Star reports that punches were thrown.
Meeker coach Lonnie Nolen said three players from his team were ejected along with four from Tecumseh.
Attempts to reach Tecumseh coach Jason Murray were unsuccessful.
OSSAA rules state that a player who is ejected for fighting will be suspended for two games, while a player who is ejected for leaving the bench and not participating in the fight will be suspended for one game. Also, the rulebook states that a coach and team can be subject to additional penalties beyond the normal penalties.
DURANT PARTICIPATES IN COIN TOSS
Oklahoma City Thunder star forward Kevin Durant served as the honorary captain on Friday night at Moore Stadium as Westmoore hosted Norman North.
The 2013-14 NBA Most Valuable Player joined the team captains at midfield for the coin toss.
Durant stayed on the Westmoore sideline for the first half of the game. He took time for a photo with the Westmoore cheerleaders, including taking a “selfie” with Westmoore’s J.J. the Jaguar mascot.
He also played catch in the end zone before the game and at halftime before leaving at the start of the second half in Westmoore’s 48-41 win.
BILL YOUNG EARNS FIRST WIN AS YUKON COACH
It took a 16-point fourth quarter to seal it, but Yukon gave Bill Young his first head coaching victory, 36-30 over Deer Creek on Friday night.
The Millers got an interception return touchdown from Nick Bryant, a TD run by quarterback Christian Gordon and a 39-yard field goal from Branden Brus to cap the victory.
Young was pleased with the progress of his defense. Though Deer Creek QB Clayton Sims was able to make some plays, the Millers kept pressure on him up front and got good coverage on the back end, with Bryant and DeMarcus Owens leading the secondary.
“The guys in the secondary played really well,” Young said. “Will Cornelius, a young defensive end, put a lot of pressure on the quarterback and got a couple of sacks.”
More than anything, the win brings some much-needed positive vibes to Yukon.
“Anytime you’ve been working as hard as our young guys have been working and you haven’t had any success, it’s discouraging,” Young said. “So this is the payback for all the work they’ve been doing and I think it’ll generate a little confidence going into next week’s game against Broken Arrow.”
WITHOUT JACOBS, NO. 1 SHAWNEE FALLS
Ponca City ended a 14-game losing streak that dated back to Oct. 19, 2012, with a 21-14 upset of Class 5A No. 1 Shawnee Friday.
Adam Nicholas’ 7-yard touchdown run capped a 94-yard drive for the game-winning touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.
Ponca City shortened the game with a plodding, run-heavy offense that produced 231 rushing yards on 57 attempts.
Shawnee was without injured starting quarterback John Jacobs, who is verbally committed to East Carolina. Coach Billy Brown would not disclose the nature of Jacobs’ injury but expects Jacobs to return for the start of district play on Friday.
“If this had been a district game, he would’ve played,” Brown said. “He was probably about 80 percent, so we held him out and hopefully he’ll be closer to healthy next week.”
Ponca City gets its second straight No. 1 opponent in Week 4, opening District 6A-II-2 action against top-ranked Tulsa Washington. Shawnee hosts a 2-1 Noble squad.
TUTTLE GETS FIRST WIN UNDER BALLARD
Tuttle is in the win column.
After an 0-2 start under new coach Brad Ballard, the Tigers scored 37 unanswered points in a 37-7 win over Elgin.
“It was great for me personally, but for those kids it was beautiful,” Ballard said. “We’re trying to improve each week. Again, we’re young and sometimes it’s baby steps.”
Running back Jason Biddy rushed for more than 100 yards and a touchdown, while quarterback Jett Jobe completed 15 of 26 passes for 174 yards and three touchdowns to overcome three interceptions.
The Tuttle defense also forced five turnovers, including a fumble that was returned for a touchdown.
Tuttle opens district play with Tecumseh next week with a chance to put together a winning streak.
“Really, we’re just trying to do some things better next week than we did this week,” Ballard said. “If we do that, we’ll have a chance in the end.”
LIEBMANN LEADS WAY FOR CASHION
After struggling to run the ball consistently against Mooreland in Week 2, Class A No. 4 Cashion had little problem doing that in a 52-36 win over Luther.
There was certainly no problem with Blakely Liebmann running the ball. He finished with 128 yards on 18 carries, while also catching two passes for 82 yards. Liebmann finished with four total touchdowns.
“That was the focus coming in,” Cashion coach Lynn Shackelford said. “We thought we had some matchups that we could kind of exploit against Luther because Luther is pretty good in the secondary.”
Shackelford also said sophomore linebacker Matt Farrow had a nice game for the Wildcats, who open district play with rival Crescent next week.

One thing I always like to do when I travel is see how other people live. Heck, I like to do that in Oklahoma. How different is life in Stratford, or Ponca City, or Tulsa, compared to Norman? Much of the time, no big difference. But when I leave the state, often the answer is […]

West Virginia travelblog: Touring the Amish Country

Berry Tramel | Sep 19, 2014

[img url=http://blog.newsok.com/dittocontent/uploads/sites/3/2014/09/9-18-14-41.jpg]3395111[/img]
One thing I always like to do when I travel is see how other people live. Heck, I like to do that in Oklahoma. How different is life in Stratford, or Ponca City, or Tulsa, compared to Norman? Much of the time, no big difference. But when I leave the state, often the answer is vast.
Thursday was just such a day.
The Dish and I toured Lancaster County, Pa. The Pennsylvania Dutch County, known as the Amish Country.
Lancaster County is home to 31 covered bridges, and the Dish loves covered bridges. We have a covered bridge leading into our neighborhood, and she wanted to tour the county and photograph as many as possible. And so we did.
It gave us the chance to see the Lancaster countryside, with gorgeous farms, both Amish and non-Amish; quaint villages; and great views.
Like everywhere else in Pennsylvania I’ve been, we encountered few roads that stayed straight for more than a few hundred yards. We found main streets with houses less than 10 yards from the traffic. We found picturesque settings every 90 seconds.
Here’s what we saw.
“THE PLAIN”
The Amish, the Mennonites and the Brethren are all groups of similar belief that migrated from Europe in the 1600s and 1700s, settling in Pennsylvania because of William Penn’s “holy experiment” of religious tolerance.
All three groups share the same basic beliefs and values. They differ primarily in matters of dress, language, forms of worship and the extent to which they allow modern technology.
The generic “Amish” are considered “The Plain,” while the rest of us are considered “The English.”
From the website padutchcountry.com: “Most Brethren and Mennonites dress much like their ‘English’ neighbors. Other Mennonites, Brethren and Amish Mennonites wear distinctive Amish clothing but may make use of ‘worldly’ conveniences, such as cars, electricity and telephones. On the other hand, Old Order Mennonite and Old Order Amish groups are more restrictive in their views of modern technology, with the Old Order Amish being the most conservative of Lancaster County’s ‘Plain’ groups.”
That’s why you might be confused. One minute, you’ll be driving down a country road, behind an Amish buggy going 4 mph. The next minute, you’ll see an Amish woman step out of an SUV she drove to the store.
Lancaster County is into farm preservation. A huge chunk of its countryside is devoted to farming, with some of it in trusts that ensure that commercial development won’t encroach on the farmland.
The Amish Country was a big tourist attraction but gradually waned. Then came the 1985 Harrison Ford film, “Witness,” about an Amish boy who witnesses a murder. Ford goes undercover in the Amish community to protect the boy, falls in love with the boy’s widowed mother and, well, I won’t spoil the ending. The movie sparked new interest in the Amish Country, and now Lancaster County is hopping with tour buses and music shows and random people like us pulling off the road to photograph the things we never see back home:
* Recess at an Amish school. A bunch of little boys — and maybe some girls, I couldn’t tell for sure who was playing — playing baseball on a little diamond right by the road. The biggest kid, who might have been 10, had the bat in his hand at home plate and waved to us as we slowly drove by. And they say baseball is dying.
* Clothes drying outside on some kind of pulley system. Some of the clothes were as much as 15-20 feet off the ground. We saw it at dozens of houses. Back in Oklahoma, I’ll go two years without seeing clothes drying outside.
* An Amish man on a mini-tractor, pulling a cart full of pumpkins and three kids.
* An Amish man on a big tractor, pulling a wagon full of watermelons, with three Amish teens sitting in the back eating melons themselves.
* Twice we saw Amish teen-age girls mowing with a motorized lawnmower.
* A little horse poop on some roads. You didn’t have to wonder from where it came.
* Many of the buggies are enclosed, so they’re viable in winter.
* Flowers everywhere around Amish houses. Beautiful, well-kept flowers.
* We got behind a few buggies on roads. Even a couple of state highways, where the speed limit was 45 mph. Nobody seemed to mind. Goes with the territory.
* We came across Hoover’s Farm Market. A literal Amish grocery store set up in a fancy garage, full of gorgeous food at low prices. It was like a Sprout’s in somebody’s oversized garage.
A giant cabbage, the size of a basketball, for $1.50. Beautiful ears of corn, $3.50 a dozen. Ornate pumpkins that would cost you $20 this time of year back home, $4.99. Fruits and vegetables of every kind, plus meats and cheeses for sale out of a huge refrigerator, and flowers for sale, at a cost of next to nothing. Just a great place.
* When I think of the corn capital of America, I think of Iowa. Or Nebraska. I’ve been in both states quite a bit. But Lancaster County blows them both away. Corn everywhere. Corn on the sides of hill. Corn on the tops of mountains. Corn harvested by modern machinery and by the Amish’s horses and antiquated equipment.
* Scooters with bicycle tires are popular. We saw them for sale in some shops, and we saw two Amish girls riding them home from school. Which was interesting on a couple of fronts. The girls were no more than 10 years old. On a country road where cars whizz by at probably 45 mph. And their homes weren’t close by, as far as I could tell. Didn’t seem safe on any front.
“THE ENGLISH”
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* You go from the Amish Country, literally as pastoral a setting as you can find, and inside of 10 minutes, you’re in a setting more urban than anything we’ve got in Oklahoma City. Lancaster County had 526,000 residents in the 2010 census, and Lancaster is a city of about 60,000. With lots of downtown congestion. Row houses. People sitting on stoops. Crowded streets. Some people who look like they live on the margins.
You can do the same a lot of places, but not to such extremes. From pristine farms where some reject the most modern conveniences to Hill Street Blues.
* Lots of row houses in Pennsylvania. Houses that abut each other, for block after block. Lots of them on the Main Street of towns.
* We saw some fences in the cities and the villages and the countryside. But we saw no stockade fences. None. Literally not one. If there’s a stockade fence in Lancaster County, I’d be surprised. They don’t exist. In Oklahoma, they’re everywhere. I guess we don’t want people looking into our backyards. I don’t know why.
* Remember yesterday I told you they hide their towns well in this part of America? Here’s an example. We drove through probably 50 towns, cities or villages in the last two days. And I saw one high school. One. Drive through any small town in Oklahoma, and you’ll see the high school. Guaranteed. Not in Pennsylvania. Probably several reasons. Main drags are not as prevalent in Pennsylvania; crooked roads are the norm. The topography — hills and trees — hide stuff, too. And football stadium lights are not as easy to spot in Pennsylvania as they are in Oklahoma.
* In Lancaster County, the dominant church denominations seem to be Methodist and Lutheran, in that order. And a bunch of churches of all kinds have their own cemeteries. We have that a little in Oklahoma, but they’re abundant in Lancaster County.
* We went to a place called Kitchen Kettle Village, in the village of Intercourse. (Don’t ask; I have no idea why a village in the Amish Country is called Intercourse.) It’s sort of an outdoor mall of Amish-type shops. It was OK. One cool store sold a bunch of food items and literally had samples set up on every shelf. Tourists were everywhere, including a bunch brought in by buses. But I got the feeling this wasn’t true Amish stuff. Some Amish women were in a kitchen, making jam, and some Amish people were working some of the shops, but it didn’t pass the authentic test for me.
* I’ve been in Pennsylvania for a day and a half. And I’ve seen two peace officers. One had somebody pulled over on the highway. The other was getting takeout at the pizza joint Wednesday night. Maybe they’re all in the city and not needed in the villages.
* Looking at the bridges, we got to the end of the county and found a trail that took us to a pinnacle overlooking the Susquehanna River. Breathtaking. You didn’t even know there were mountains around, and suddenly you’re on top of one.
DINNER WITH STRANGERS
We had dinner at Good’N Plenty in Smoketown, just outside Lancaster. Mike Houck, OU’s basketball publicist, lived in Lancaster County as a kid and recommended it. So did Mike Montoro, the West Virginia publicist who gave me a WVU tour Wednesday.
It was an interesting place. You pay as you enter; $22 a head, all you can eat. You enter a huge, banquet-sized room with long tables. They seat you with strangers, which is cool by me. We ate with a couple from Uniontown, Pa. (where we spent Tuesday night), a family from Maine and a family from New Jersey. I enjoy meeting new people. I never tell people all that much about myself — the less people know, the better — but I enjoy hearing about them and where they’re from.
Good’N Plenty is a famous place that also caters to tour buses. There were three or four in the parking lot when we arrived.
They bring you all kinds of things to eat. Homemade bread with whipped butter or apple butter; appetizers of cottage cheese, roast beef salad, applesauce, chow-chow (fermented vegetables) and cole slaw; main course of fried chicken, roast turkey, sausage with sauerkraut, butter noodles, peas, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and stuffing; and desserts of cheesecake, cherry crumb cake, homemade ice cream, chocolate pudding and shoo-fly pie, which was some concoction that didn’t look all that good to me.
It was good. It wasn’t great. It tries to pass for Amish, but again, I was skeptical. The servers certainly weren’t Amish.

High school football roundup: Hennessey beats top-ranked Kingfisher

From Staff Reports | Sep 12, 2014

Three long touchdown passes by Tony Mendoza helped lead Class 2A No. 3 Hennessey to a 32-13 home victory over Kingfisher, the top-ranked team in 3A.
Mendoza had a 37-yard TD pass to Tabor Johns and a 25-yarder to Jose Sanchez as Hennessey took a 25-0 lead after three quarters. Kingfisher scored twice in the fourth to make it 25-13, before Mendoza hit Sanchez on an 80-yard TD. Mendoza finished 12 of 14 for 228 yards. Sanchez had 153 yards on seven catches.
Javy Renteria led Hennessey’s defense with 13 tackles and two pass deflections.
HARMON PACES CASHION
Matt Harmon threw for 193 yards and three touchdowns to lead Class A No. 5 Cashion to a 40-7 victory over Mooreland. Harmon was 13 of 18, including TD passes of 38 and 11 yards to Josh Hampton. Hampton finished with 102 yards on five catches.
Dylan Kordeliski scored twice for Cashion, including a 44-yard fumble return.
DAVENPORT COASTS
Hunter Reid accounted for five touchdows as Davenport, ranked No. 3 in Class B, defeated Watts 46-0 in a game stopped at halftime due to the mercy rule.
Reid threw three TD passes, had a 31-yard touchdown run and returned a kickoff 88 yards for a score.
CURRY-MALTZ CONNECTION LEADS GUTHRIE
Class 5A No. 4 Guthrie improved to 2-0 with a 24-6 victory at Ponca City. L’liott Curry caught touchdown passes of 10 and 21 yards from Zane Maltz, and ran for 114 yards on 11 carries.
CHOCTAW BOUNCES PUTNAM CITY
Jonah Llanusa ran for three scores and threw for another, leading Choctaw past Putnam City 34-3. Two of Llanusa’s TD throws went to Jacob Rapp, covering 17 and 8 yards. Llanusa also connected with Kurt Yandell on a 49-yarder, and scored on a 6-yard run.
Choctaw (2-0) is ranked No. 4 in Class 6A-II.
JONES GETS PAST HARRAH
A 7-yard run by Brandon George in the fourth quarter proved to be the game winner in Jones’ 26-20 victory at Harrah. George also had a 16-yard TD pass to Layton Moore. Tarik Leniger had TD runs of 19 and 16 yards for the Longhorns.
Grant Martin led the way for Harrah with touchdown runs of 24, 1 and 60 yards.
MCGUINNESS EDGES KELLEY
Bishop McGuinness scored two first-half touchdowns and held on for a 16-14 victory at Tulsa Kelley. Jacob Mullins completed 15 of 22 passes for 214 yards including a 31-yard touchdown to Rubell Goe. The other TD for the Irish (1-1) came on an 11-yard run by Zach Segell.
Kelley scored both its touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The Comets (0-2) converted the 2-point coversion after their first TD, but failed on the second after a penalty.
PAYTON SHINES FOR PERKINS
Jacob Payton ran for 227 yards on just 12 carries and scored four touchdowns as Perkins beat McLoud 42-9. Payton had TD runs of 6, 28, 67 and 5 yards.
Zac Bledsoe added two TD passes, one of them a 59-yarder to Thunder Sharp.
BIG PLAYS SPARK OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN
A 99-yard kickoff return by Kade Van Meter was the first of several big scoring plays that helped Oklahoma Christian beat Class 4A No. 10 Metro Christian, 43-32.
OCS, No. 10 in Class 2A, got three touchdowns from quarterback Thomas Qualls — on a 75-yard run, and passes of 29 and 15 yards to Connor Sikes. Callen Crockett added a 49-yard interception return for a score, and Luke Frankfurt had a 75-yard TD. He finished with 113 yards. Van Meter also had two interceptions.
Abe Anderson threw three touchdown passes for Metro Christian.
CHRISTIAN HERITAGE TRIMS ROCKETS
Spencer Lindsey threw for 144 yards and two touchdowns as Christian Heritage beat Mount St. Mary, 21-14. Lindsey’s TD passes went to Braden Mikes, one of them a 68-yarder.
St. Mary got touchdown runs of 33 yards from Archie Browne and 11 yards from Joe Castiglione Jr.
RUN GAME CARRIES MEEKER
The running of quarterback Jake Stanlee and fullback Tim Whitfield led Meeker to a 62-46 victory over Chandler. Stanley had 222 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, and Whitfield had 204 yards and six TDs on 20 carries.

The Great American Rivalry Series, presented by the United States Marine Corps and AT&T, will highlight the Southmoore vs. Westmoore football game on Friday night at Moore Stadium.
According to the series’ website, the game was selected as one of the top 100 must-see rivalries for this season. The Great American Rivalry Series was created in 2004, and has spotlighted rivalries in 36...

High school notebook: Southmoore vs. Westmoore football game featured in series

BY TRENT SHADID, JACOB UNRUH AND SCOTT WRIGHT | Sep 9, 2014

The Great American Rivalry Series, presented by the United States Marine Corps and AT&T, will highlight the Southmoore vs. Westmoore football game on Friday night at Moore Stadium.
According to the series’ website, the game was selected as one of the top 100 must-see rivalries for this season. The Great American Rivalry Series was created in 2004, and has spotlighted rivalries in 36 different states.
The winner will receive a trophy, presented by the Marines, and the Most Valuable Player of the game along with the top student-athlete from each school will also be recognized.
The series has also teamed up with AT&T’s “It Can Wait” campaign to help educate teens on the dangers of texting and driving. The promotion encourages students from Southmoore and Westmoore to utilize their Twitter to tweet #X and their school’s hashtag along with a unique message encouraging friends and families to not text and drive. A total of 42 high schools nationwide will participate in the promotion on Sept. 12, Sept. 13, and Sept. 19.
OSSAA TO HEAR PRESENTATION FROM PUTNAM CITY
The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association Board of Directors will hear and possibly take action Wednesday on a presentation from Putnam City regarding a potential penalty for not attending a mandatory workshop before the school year.
At last month’s board meeting, it was revealed that Putnam City was among schools penalized for not attending the required workshop. The penalty is that the school is not allowed to host any playoff activities for the school year.
The presentation will be made by Putnam City Schools athletic director Dr. Dick Balenseifen and A.D. Burtschi, who is Putnam City High School’s site athletic director.
Also on the agenda is the McGuinness lawsuit that was filed Monday, but that discussion is expected to take place in executive session.
The OSSAA will also discuss and possibly take action on a partnership with Special Olympics Oklahoma, among other things.
MOORE NAMED C-USA SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF WEEK
Former Edmond North kicker Trevor Moore was honored by Conference USA on Monday after tying a University of North Texas record and nearly setting an NCAA freshman record.
Moore made five field goals, which tied North Texas’ record for field goals in one game and fell one shy of breaking the NCAA record for total field goals by a freshman in one game, in a 43-6 win over SMU. He was named the C-USA Special Teams Player of the Week.
He made field goals from 44, 21, 23, 41 and 47 yards.
Moore was The Oklahoman’s All-State kicker last season after making 12 of 15 field goals and 33 extra-point tries.
PONCA CITY’S SCHILTZ SIGNED BY CHIEFS
Former Ponca City football player Adam Schiltz, who played collegiately at Emporia (Kan.) State, was signed to the practice squad of the Kansas City Chiefs on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old Schiltz spent his first pro season on the Tennessee Titans’ practice squad last year.